These are the two most common words we hear in reference to 9/11. This succinct command appears on billboards, Facebook posts, and television documentaries of the horrific event, annually renewing our recollection, sorrow, and patriotic fervor. America doesn’t want to forget. America doesn’t intend to forget. But America is already forgetting.
As I stood at the memorial service before Central Hall this past Tuesday, waiting for the keynote address to begin, I hoped for words of comfort and hope this 9/11. The speaker, retired Marine Michael Murray, took the podium. And told me that the “monstrous” idealism responsible for the terrorist attack ought to be “destroyed.”
Mr. Murray called on us to remember the sacrifices of the armed forces and to appreciate the fight against Islamic extremism for the sake of liberty. The rest of the speech was brief and patriotic; I don’t recall much of it. But those words stuck in my head: Monstrous. Destroyed.
On a day dedicated to comforting the bereaved in light of the enormity of the attack on our country, I and everyone present were being encouraged to the same hatred and violence that inspired our attackers. Instead of a memorial to the dead innocents and heroes of that day, I heard a justification for war and the deaths of our enemies.
I don’t know what the jihadists in those planes were told before they set off on their mission to kill us, but no doubt it had something to do with equating us to a monstrous evil that must be destroyed. How else would they think of the United States, the “Great Satan?” It chilled me, to hear such rhetoric echoed on the quad at Hillsdale. Is there any use becoming that which we claim to stand against? We disrespect the dead when we call for a hatred-motivated vengeance.
Please don’t misunderstand me: I’m neither protesting nor defending the war we are fighting. People much smarter than me can debate me under the table as to why or why not 9/11 is a just, right, and patriotic reason to fight. Regardless of your opinion of the conflict, is that the context in which we want to honor our dead? By using them as an emotionally provocative rationalization for war?
Remembering this national tragedy ought to be about comforting those who lost their loved ones and supporting one another with hope through the unity of our community. The people who died that day each had a story. They had families and careers and hobbies and pets and particular ways of dressing and talking and walking. They were individuals. They had lives. Now their deaths are being used merely as the justification for further death. We aren’t remembering for the right reasons and that is as good as forgetting.
And remembering is vital. The elementary-schoolers present at Tuesday’s memorial service weren’t born when 9/11 happened. All they know of that day is how we who lived through it recall it. When this war is over and 9/11 rol ls around, I’m afraid of what we will have to say. People will step up to that podium in front of Central Hall and be met with blank stares. Without the fight to contextualize the 9/11 deaths, we will have forgotten how to remember the dead.
On 9/11, the thought of further war and destruction is a cold, cold comfort. We will fight our enemies, but they do not deserve the respect of our attention at our memorials. Instead, let us never forget the stories of the dead. Never forget their children and grandchildren. Never forget that hope is possible.
